Cinefantastique
- - (as CFQ) |Issues=173 25 (as CFQ) |Editor=Frederic S. Clarke, others David E. Wiiliams, Jeff Bond (as CFQ) }} Cinefantastique was a magazine devoted to television and movie productions in the horror, fantasy and science fiction genres, including Star Trek. It started out as a fanzine in , under the stewardship of Frederic S. Clarke. Under his auspices, it soon developed into a high-quality critical review magazine, relaunched and with a re-started numbering from onward, with in-depth articles about the genre. The high quality was reflected in the way the magazine was published, being printed on high gloss paper and featuring full color interior work, with advertising kept to a minimum and those limited to related products. Over time, a more journalistic approach was introduced as a new element in the formula. Reporters were sent out to get firsthand information of the people involved in the genre productions. Another element was introduced in , with the publication of the first double issue covering Star Wars, heralding the advent of theme numbers where editors were able to go in-depth into specific productions in the genre. Double issues became regular occurrences of Cinefantastique. Up until then the formula was comparable to the contemporary Starlog magazine. The magazine had a sister publication, Femme Fatales, which featured interviews with Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Chase Masterson, Jeri Ryan, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Lien and female Star Trek guest stars. In , founder and chief editor Clarke committed suicide. After his death, perceived quality of the magazine in both content and product (including those with Star Trek contents, as the last few issues covering the subject had not the depth and the wealth, the previous outings had) started to wane noticeably, and readership began to decline rapidly, before the magazine ceased publication in 2002. Mark A. Altman, one of the premier reporters of the magazine, having left the magazine previously, acquired publishing rights with Mark Gottwald and relaunched it under the new title CFQ in . Returning the publication to its original formula of being a critical review magazine, they were unable to regain the popularity it originally had in its heydays and publication ceased in after 25 issues. Cinefantastique relaunched as a webzine in August 2007, called Cinefantastique Online, under the supervision of the magazine's former West Coast Editor, Steve Biodrowski. In 2009, Cinefantastique was purchased by and is now a wholly owned trademark of Fourth Castle Micromedia, a New York based company owned by genre marketing veteran Joe Sena. Fourth Castle is best known for their EMCE Toys brand, whose first lines of "Retro Cloth" 8" action figures were reproductions of classic MEGO toys. Fourth Castle produced a one-shot, "Cinefantastique Presents The Ultimate Guide To Zombies" in 2012. The magazine is slated for relaunch in 2015, Biodrowski continues to run Cinefantastique Online and Dan Persons produces podcasts for the publication. ''Star Trek'' affiliation In , Star Trek: The Next Generation became the first television show to be covered in an episode guide issue. The set-up differed in that the guide was beefed out with behind-the-scenes articles. The formula was very well received by readers and was later expanded to double issue theme numbers and applied to other popular genre television series of the time, like The X-Files and Babylon 5. Mark Altman, Dale Kutzera and Anna Kaplan became the premiere reporters on Star Trek. While not as specialized as its contemporaries, American Cinematographer and Cinefex, Cinefantastique covered a wider range of behind-the-scenes aspects of productions, which, however, gave a more complete picture of the production of the Star Trek spin-off television series than any of the the contemporary "official" Starlog Press television series magazines. At the time of publication, particularly during the years 1990-2000, Cinefantastique became therefore the premier source of contemporary background information on the production of the television series, its two contemporaries concentrating on the movie features, and has arguably remained so to this date, especially where Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager are concerned. Unlike other, later and often somewhat filtered, publications, including reference books or commentaries on home media releases, Cinefantastique s strength lay in the fact that production staffers of the television series proffered insights about their contributions, while their memories were still fresh, having been interviewed hot on the heels after, or even during, their involvement in a particular season. Cinefantastique s articles were accompanied by behind-the-scenes photographs, taken on personal title and/or provided by production staffers themselves (therefore not part of CBS' licensing department), virtually unseen seen afterwards. Anna Kaplan cited her interviews about the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode as an example of the magazine's strength, commenting, "Only in CFQ could I have written complete coverage of "Trials and Tribble-ations" ''Deep Space Nine's homage to classic Trek on it’s 30th anniversary. I talked to all the writer-producers and many of the people behind and in front of the camera who contributed to that remarkable episode. David Hines also interviewed David Gerrold, who wrote the original series episode . The November 1997 CFQ issue devoted 18 pages to that one episode. None of the other genre publications, not even official Star Trek magazines, provided that kind of coverage''". http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/about/cinefantastique-magazine-a-35th-anniversary-tribute/ Coverage of the movie features through has not been as exhaustive as the television series, due to the fact that these articles, essentially teasers, were published prior to the movie releases, meaning that what information could be divulged was restricted out of necessity. The heavy Star Trek coverage during the late 1980s and 1990s did alienate some of the long time readership as well as some of the writing staff, though former staff writer Dan Scapperotti (who had done a piece on Leonard Nimoy for his directorial Star Trek debut, ) has mused years later, "I was never terribly interested in STAR TREK, but those issues paid the bills. Every year you had to come out with least one, because they were really hot issues. Looking back twenty years later, that’s interesting stuff." http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/about/cinefantastique-magazine-a-35th-anniversary-tribute/ ''Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Noteworthy is that – unlike the other Star Trek productions up to – coverage of and was either very limited (in the first case) or altogether non-existent (in the latter case). The first case was particularly noteworthy, as The Motion Picture did receive extensive coverage in numerous contemporary magazines such as Starlog, American Cinematographer, and Cinefex. Actually, Cinefantastique had planned a theme double-issue for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and contributor Preston Neal Jones carried out extensive interviews with the cast and crew for the issue. However, editorial problems, due to the film's last-minute completion and the extent of the draft manuscript, meant that the issue was never published. A later release of the publication was advertised in several issues of the magazine – Volume 10, Issue 1 (amongst others) featuring a full page ad for the release, showcasing the cover art by Roger Stine – but this did not come to fruition. The completed cover art was later acquired by Daren Dochterman, having bought it as in Profiles in History's Hollywood Auction 24 on . http://blog.darendoc.com/?p=142 After an earlier failed attempt to release the manuscript in , it was ultimately published by Creature Features Publishing in as the reference book Return to Tomorrow - The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, using the original cover art. Notable issues Of particular relevance to Star Trek are the following issues (most of them with recognizable cover art by David Voight, annotated if otherwise): External links *[http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/ Cinefantastique Online] - official website **"The History of Cinefantastique" at Cinefantastique Online * *MovieMags.com - covers for all 170+ issues Category:Magazines fr:Cinefantastique